SHOULD A WOMAN CLEAN A MAN'S BOOTS ?

Otago Witness, Issue 1985, 10 March 1892, Page 42

SHOULD A WOMAN CLEAN A MAN'S BOOTS ?

Dear Alice,— Will you kindly allow me to take exception to your ruling in last week's Witness in answer to the query " Should a wife clean her husband's boots?" I certainly think" that a wife should do so, and if you will allow me I will give you some reasons why I think so. Well, in the first place, it is a wife's duty to keep the house and all that pertains to it clean and tidy. The husband is the bread-winner,, and has to work hard and incessantly to find the means to keep the house in order. If he is^in business on his own account he has all the worry and anxiety of financing, &c. ; if he is working for wages he has to give his mind and attention to his employment ; 'and when he reaches home at night tired with the fatigue and anxiety of business, it is not only a wife's duty but her privilege to make her husband as comfortable as possible. And what better means of doing so can she have than doing her utmost to keep the house and her own and his clothes and boots clean and tidy? Why should an exception be made to her husband's boots any more'than his stockings ? You ask if a husband should think any more of his wife for keeping his boots clean ? Pray should he think any more of her for keeping his shirt starched ? We know that married women have far more time than their husbands to spend in visiting and such -like, and I anr glad that they have the time. But, mark me, I do not say that" under all circumstances a wife should clean the boots. There may be times, such as when a husband has leisure' and the wife is busy, that he should assist her not only by cleaning his own boots but by cleaning hers also. Mutual assistance is the right way. But for goodness' sake don't act on the principle that the bread-winner should also be made to do as much of the domestic work as he can. Such a course is the correct way to make bad husbands. By all means help each other as much as possible, but remember the old adage, " Man for the field, and woman for the hearth." The wife is. and ought to be, queen of the household, and any assistance in the affairs of it should not be exacted as a right from the husband. Some years ago there was a discussion on this subject in one of the Scottish weeklies, and I am pleased to say that the women took up the matter and settled conclusively that boot cleaning is part of woman's work. One girl naively added that she wished she had a husband to get a chance to clean his boots. I should like to know what the Otago women think on the matter. Trusting that you will kindly give this space, — I am, &c, .Timaru, March 3. Benedict. [The question was asked me, "Is it a wife's duty to clean her husband's boots ? " and before marriage this particular couple had agreed that the husband himself should do it. If it is a wife's pleasure to clean her husband's boots, she is of course at liberty to do it, but I cannot see that it is her duty to do so whether it pleases her or not. A man who loves a wife as his own body will not ask her to do anything for him that he would not do himself if he could avoid it. The needle and scrubbing brush arc women's implements, but shoeblacks are generally men. I did not raise the question, but whenever the circumstances of the case arc known to me and questions asked I answer accordingly, and I have reason to believe that this wife always declared beforehand she would not clean her husband's boots. — Alice.]